Remember how I was woken up by the cold wind? Turns out it’s not so bad, as we had to start breakfast at 04:30 AM #Shocked! When I booked the tour, it definitely didn’t mention anything about waking up before 4:00 AM. By 05:10, we were already on the bus. At 05:20 AM sharp we left to catch sunrise.
Walk started, our lack of preparation caught up with us ~ we didn’t bring flashlights! Therefore had to constantly pace ourselves with the people in front of us, like Thiago and two Chinese ladies who hadn’t spoken to anyone yet. Maxim asked, “Is there a possibility that you saw my son up front?” I told him yes, he was leading the pack. He added “Ahh, so annoying”. Thiago was damn fast, well… he is a 15 yo anyway.
As the light started to change (read: sunrise), Wombat urged me on: “Come on, it will be over in ten minutes, we better hurry!” Many people had already overtaken us. Fast forward a bit, managed to catch the sunrise just in time! #Sehr knapp!
Good morning, Ayers Rock! #You Rocks!
Afterward, we walked around to see its different sides ~ it’s definitely not all smooth rock. The walk went faster than I expected, taking only about 2 hours.
We then met up with Ryan for a snack before starting a guided walk just to an area next to it. He did the explanation without waiting if all of us already gathered, obviously I was the last one, didn’t hear much of it #Sad pfff
Then we headed off to our second campsite. Ryan mentioned this site was more remote, yet somehow we had Wi-Fi there… hmmm what a 矛盾 😉 I had a huge relief Dom had upgraded to a „Business Class“ aka cabin otherwise he would be awake all night. Ryan arranged he shared the cabin with Matthew.
There were signs everywhere warning us to beware of dingoes and King Brown snakes. I wasn’t really afraid of the dingoes… I mean, what are they going to do, eat all 11 of us? #No way. A King Brown Snake however is a different story! Checked the ground, my swag and my sleeping bag multiple times. Placed my Swag so closed between Thiago and Phoebe, no space spared for King Brown snake!
During the trip, I got to know a Shanghainese lady named Lucy. She had upgraded her mother (who was 70+ years old) to a cabin with two beds. Lucy slept in there 偷偷的 while her husband and son slept outside in swags. Lucy whispered to me, “Behind you is an empty cabin, just go in there. No one needs to know!” I asked Phoebe if she wanted to sneak in with me, however she was too lazy to move.
At first, I tried to sleep in my swag wearing my thick sweater and long leggings to prepare myself for that freezing 3:00 AM wind ~ Alice Spring is not my last stop, I couldn’t risk of getting sick! Resulting I felt too warm inside my swag. I couldn’t sleep, finally decided to sneak into the empty cabin.
I couldn’t sleep there either! Every time I heard footsteps outside, I was wide awake. To make things even creepier, I could hear a pack of dingoes howling like in the distance, which kept me tossing and turning all night. Perhaps I was just terrified someone would find out, even though Lucy had assured me, “How would they know? We all sleep and have to wake up at 4:00 anyway. Just wake up a bit earlier and slip back out, 就好了 don’t be so strict!”
Sleep-deprived, nevertheless ready for Day 3 🙂
Link for our Tour:
Uluru Tour with Kata Tjuta & Kings Canyon (Swag) | Adventure Tours Australia